I spoke too soon with my last blog post (well, was trying to come up with a rhyming title... guess I picked the wrong rhyme).
A week ago, last Tuesday, I had my follow-up appointment and changed to Tray 8. Everything seemed fine. It was pretty difficult to get them out to eat dinner (since they had only been in a few hours), but I was starving!
The next day, Wednesday, after I ate lunch at work, I went to the bathroom as usual to brush my teeth and put my trays back in. I noticed that one of the attachments on my bottom tooth - the one that came off in my first week of Invisalign - was gone. It may have come off when I took the tray off Tuesday night, or when I was eating dinner and snacks, or even during lunch Wednesday. It was strange it came off so many months later, but I figured it'd be best to take care of it as soon as possible to avoid problems in treatment.
I went in first thing Thursday, since I had already taken the morning off for an eye doctor appointment. I drove to the orthodontist (15-20 minutes, other side of town), got the attachment put back on, and turned right back around to my side of town to make the eye doctor in time. So due to my need for speed, I didn't really pay attention to how the bottom tray looked in the mirror when I put it on, after the attachment got
replaced. The orthodontist had already walked away before I put it on, so he didn't check to make sure it was fine, and neither did the assistant.
After my eye doctor appointment, I went home to eat before heading to work. After brushing my teeth and putting on my trays, is when I noticed the tray didn't fit quite right over the tooth with the replaced attachment. I didn't really think anything of it except maybe to get it looked at.
That evening, I realized it was a problem. I remembered they used the template to put the attachment back on, and thanks to some research from fellow bracesreview members, realized the correct way to put an attachment back on is to either cut that tooth from the template, or get a new template. See, the
template is how your teeth were pre-Invisalign. I'm now at Tray 8. My teeth have moved. I also thought another possible reason was that it just wasn't filed down enough, and that's why the attachment didn't fit inside the bubble of my tray.
I had to wait Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before I could call since they're closed all of those days. Between then, I had a little freak-out Friday night (I thought the tooth moved a lot, but in reality maybe only a little bit, and had horrible images of root problems and having to get new trays made and the tray not fitting once it was fixed)... I called first thing Monday morning, thinking they could get me in, but I had to wait until this afternoon for an appointment because the orthodontist was completely booked.
I left work early today to go over there... praying it didn't mess with the treatment too much and was an easy fix... and...
Can I say how DISAPPOINTED I am? Up until now (well, middle of last week more like it), I have been super duper happy with my orthodontist and the office, and feel valued, and think things have been going great. Now? I feel like my concerns didn't matter and that my worries are for nothing.
The assistant looked at my teeth first, and saw the gap, and after getting my tray out put the template back on. Then she cut it (though to have three teeth together, not just one like Align Tech says to do in their video) and put it on. Then had the orthodontist come over to take a look.
He blamed the TRAY on the fact that it didn't fit right. He wasn't going to do anything. He said I should have nothing to worry about. I wasn't mean but I was trying to get him to understand: the tray was NOT like that when I put it on last Tuesday, at least from what I can remember, and only started being like that after the attachment was replaced. (Even if it was like that before the attachment issue, what explains the fact that the tooth hurt a bit on Friday, and my jaw on that side as well, and the difference between how
my teeth are next to each other in reality compared to what the tray is supposed to be?)
After expressing my concerns, he shaved the attachment down a little, but there's still a gap. I asked if I had issues when I changed trays next week, that I should call. He seemed to acknowledge it but didn't seem to believe it'd be a problem and walked away since I guess he's really busy.
Maybe when I change to Tray 9, it will fit okay and not a problem. Maybe it is a tray bubble issue. I hope my concerns and worries are for nothing, but I can't help but think that this is going to cause problems down the road.
Is it bad that I want this attachment to come off for a third time? Part of me thinks there'd be less of a problem with the attachment gone (there's another one on the same tooth that has been fine) then with it not fitting, like now.
I am frustrated. Frustrated that I had these expectations of my orthodontist being awesome, and in some ways is, but today felt like I wasn't being heard and left a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended). On top of it, add crazy work stress and I feel like I'm going to have a mental breakdown. Not really, but I feel like nothing is going right.
I will admit, for the first time since starting Invisalign, a few days ago I wondered if this was all a mistake. Did I go to the right orthodontist? Should I have shopped around? Should I have even done Invisalign in the first place?
I'm sorry to write a book about this, but I've got to get it out.
A week ago, last Tuesday, I had my follow-up appointment and changed to Tray 8. Everything seemed fine. It was pretty difficult to get them out to eat dinner (since they had only been in a few hours), but I was starving!
The next day, Wednesday, after I ate lunch at work, I went to the bathroom as usual to brush my teeth and put my trays back in. I noticed that one of the attachments on my bottom tooth - the one that came off in my first week of Invisalign - was gone. It may have come off when I took the tray off Tuesday night, or when I was eating dinner and snacks, or even during lunch Wednesday. It was strange it came off so many months later, but I figured it'd be best to take care of it as soon as possible to avoid problems in treatment.
I went in first thing Thursday, since I had already taken the morning off for an eye doctor appointment. I drove to the orthodontist (15-20 minutes, other side of town), got the attachment put back on, and turned right back around to my side of town to make the eye doctor in time. So due to my need for speed, I didn't really pay attention to how the bottom tray looked in the mirror when I put it on, after the attachment got
replaced. The orthodontist had already walked away before I put it on, so he didn't check to make sure it was fine, and neither did the assistant.
After my eye doctor appointment, I went home to eat before heading to work. After brushing my teeth and putting on my trays, is when I noticed the tray didn't fit quite right over the tooth with the replaced attachment. I didn't really think anything of it except maybe to get it looked at.
That evening, I realized it was a problem. I remembered they used the template to put the attachment back on, and thanks to some research from fellow bracesreview members, realized the correct way to put an attachment back on is to either cut that tooth from the template, or get a new template. See, the
template is how your teeth were pre-Invisalign. I'm now at Tray 8. My teeth have moved. I also thought another possible reason was that it just wasn't filed down enough, and that's why the attachment didn't fit inside the bubble of my tray.
I had to wait Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before I could call since they're closed all of those days. Between then, I had a little freak-out Friday night (I thought the tooth moved a lot, but in reality maybe only a little bit, and had horrible images of root problems and having to get new trays made and the tray not fitting once it was fixed)... I called first thing Monday morning, thinking they could get me in, but I had to wait until this afternoon for an appointment because the orthodontist was completely booked.
I left work early today to go over there... praying it didn't mess with the treatment too much and was an easy fix... and...
Can I say how DISAPPOINTED I am? Up until now (well, middle of last week more like it), I have been super duper happy with my orthodontist and the office, and feel valued, and think things have been going great. Now? I feel like my concerns didn't matter and that my worries are for nothing.
The assistant looked at my teeth first, and saw the gap, and after getting my tray out put the template back on. Then she cut it (though to have three teeth together, not just one like Align Tech says to do in their video) and put it on. Then had the orthodontist come over to take a look.
He blamed the TRAY on the fact that it didn't fit right. He wasn't going to do anything. He said I should have nothing to worry about. I wasn't mean but I was trying to get him to understand: the tray was NOT like that when I put it on last Tuesday, at least from what I can remember, and only started being like that after the attachment was replaced. (Even if it was like that before the attachment issue, what explains the fact that the tooth hurt a bit on Friday, and my jaw on that side as well, and the difference between how
my teeth are next to each other in reality compared to what the tray is supposed to be?)
After expressing my concerns, he shaved the attachment down a little, but there's still a gap. I asked if I had issues when I changed trays next week, that I should call. He seemed to acknowledge it but didn't seem to believe it'd be a problem and walked away since I guess he's really busy.
Maybe when I change to Tray 9, it will fit okay and not a problem. Maybe it is a tray bubble issue. I hope my concerns and worries are for nothing, but I can't help but think that this is going to cause problems down the road.
Is it bad that I want this attachment to come off for a third time? Part of me thinks there'd be less of a problem with the attachment gone (there's another one on the same tooth that has been fine) then with it not fitting, like now.
I am frustrated. Frustrated that I had these expectations of my orthodontist being awesome, and in some ways is, but today felt like I wasn't being heard and left a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended). On top of it, add crazy work stress and I feel like I'm going to have a mental breakdown. Not really, but I feel like nothing is going right.
I will admit, for the first time since starting Invisalign, a few days ago I wondered if this was all a mistake. Did I go to the right orthodontist? Should I have shopped around? Should I have even done Invisalign in the first place?
I'm sorry to write a book about this, but I've got to get it out.